The Palladium of Liberty

The Palladium of Liberty was an early, short-lived, civil rights paper
"devoted to the interests of the colored people generally". Editor David Jenkins
established the paper in 1843 with a group of free blacks in the Columbus area. The paper
had a strong antislavery stance and lent editorial support to the education of African-American
children, temperance, moral reform, and the elective franchise. It was distributed throughout
Ohio and eastern states but ceased publication by winter of 1844.

Editor David Jenkins was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1811. At various times in his life he
was a farmer, barber, paper hanger and painter, as well as anenergetic operator in the local
underground railroad. Jenkins was a recuiter for the 127th Ohio Infantry during the Civil War
and was then appointed to the Freedmen's Bureau in Mississippi.

Jenkins came to Columbus in 1837 where he became a leading participant in local civil rights
activities and attended sessions of the Legislature so regularly that he became known as
"The member at large." Jenkins left Columbus, Ohio in 1873, then settled in
Canton, Mississippi.